Somali pirates seize supertanker loaded with crude

[DJ_NAV]

Somali pirates seize supertanker loaded with crude
By BARBARA SURK – 1 hour ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Somali pirates hijacked a supertanker hundreds of miles off the Horn of Africa, seizing the Saudi-owned ship loaded with crude and its 25-member crew, the U.S. Navy said Monday.

It appeared to be the largest ship ever seized by pirates.

After the brazen hijacking, the pirates on Monday sailed the Sirius Star to a Somali port that has become a haven for bandits and the ships they have seized, a Navy spokesman said.

The hijacking was among the most brazen in a surge in attacks this year by ransom-hungry Somali pirates. Attacks off the Somali coast have increased more than 75 percent this year, and even the world's largest vessels are vulnerable.

The Sirius Star, commissioned in March and owned by the Saudi oil company Aramco, is 1,080 feet long — about the length of an aircraft carrier — making it one of the largest ships to sail the seas. It can carry about 2 million barrels of oil.

Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said the pirates hijacked the ship on Saturday about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya — the farthest out to sea Somali pirates have struck.

By expanding their range, Somali pirates are "certainly a threat to many more vessels," Christensen said. He said the pirates on the Sirius Star were "nearing an anchorage point" at the Somali port town of Eylon Monday.

Somali pirates have seized at least six several ships off the Horn of Africa in the past week, but the hijacking of a supertanker marked a dramatic escalation.

The pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.

With most attacks ending with million-dollar payouts, piracy is considered the most lucrative work in Somalia. Pirates rarely hurt their hostages, instead holding out for a huge payday.

The strategy works well: A report last month by a London-based think tank said pirates have raked in up to $30 million in ransoms this year alone.

In Somalia, pirates are better-funded, better-organized and better-armed than one might imagine in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades.

They do occasionally get nabbed, however. Earlier this year, French commandos used night vision goggles and helicopters in operations that killed or captured several pirates, who are now standing trial in Paris. A stepped-up international presence of warships recently also appears to have deterred several attacks.

The Sirius Star was sailing under a Liberian flag. The 25-member crew includes citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. A British Foreign Office spokesman said there were at least two British nationals on board.

An operator with Aramco said there was no one available at the company to comment after business hours. Calls went unanswered at Vela International, the Dubai-based marine company that operated the ship for Aramco.

Classed as a Very Large Crude Carrier, the Sirius Star is 318,000 dead weight tons.

Raja Kiwan, a Dubai-based analyst with PFC Energy, said the hijacking raises "some serious questions" about what is needed to secure such ships on the open seas.

"It's not easy to take over a ship" as massive as oil tankers, which typically have armed guards on board, he said.

But pirates have gone after oil tankers before.

In October, a Spanish military patrol plane thwarted pirates trying to hijack an oil tanker by buzzing them three times and dropping smoke canisters.

On April 21, pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Japanese oil tanker, leaving a hole that allowed several hundred gallons of fuel to leak out, raising fears for the environment.

In September, three pirates in a speed boat fired machine guns at an Iranian crude oil carrier, though the ship escaped after a 30-minute chase.

Warships from the more than a dozen nations as well as NATO forces have focused their anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, increasing their military presence in recent months.

But Saturday's hijacking occurred much farther south, highlighting weaknesses in the international response.

Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, said the increased international presence trying to prevent attacks is simply not enough.

"The coalition has suppressed a number of attacks ... but there will never be enough warships," he said, describing an area that covers 2.5 million square miles.

He also speculated that the crew of the Sirius Star may have had a false sense of security because they were so far out to sea.

He said the coalition warships will have to be "one step ahead of the pirates. The difficulty here is that the ship was beyond the area where the coalition were currently acting."

Associated Press Writer Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

[DJ_NAV]

2 million barrels!!!.. I kinda wish Saudi goes buck on these guys....

[Canmorite]

Can't they arm these guys on the tankers with guns and what not? Or do they?

[Grogador]

Originally posted by DJ_NAV
It's not easy to take over a ship as massive as oil tankers, which typically have armed guards on board, he said.

[TYMSMNY]

If you load them up with bigger gun, you'd be starting a big gun fight on a loaded tanker. Oil is going to be such a commodity that they'll have patrol vessels escorting them to their destination.

[Crymson]

Originally posted by Canmorite
Can't they arm these guys on the tankers with guns and what not? Or do they?

I guess you could, but i wouldn't expect sailors to defend the ship. Just because i may be armed, doesnt' mean i'd be willing to die for someone elses 2 million barrels of oil. That's why the somali's aren't killing the crews -- if they know they just have to give up, then they're likely to do so. If you heard reports of crews being slain or tossed overboard, then they'd have a fight on their hands. If at the end of it all, it's simply an insurance payout, there is no incentive to fight back.

The shipping companies would have to hire mercs, not sailors with guns, to protect the ships, and they probably would be if the economics supported it. It's probably cheaper to take your chances and pay the ransom if something goes wrong then to try and protect all your shipments.

[semograd]

Originally posted by Canmorite
Can't they arm these guys on the tankers with guns and what not? Or do they?

Its maritime law that civilian or private vessels cannot be equipped with any sort of weaponry.

[Eleanor]

^ Did you even read Grogador's post? :nut:

[ekguy]

Is there a reason the world hasn't like all joined together and taken care of this...Seems like something 0.5% of the US Navy could take car of by themselves and if you got a bunch of countries involved wouldn't this be taken care of quite easily???

[1997GSR]

^ i bet the saudi (and other nations) counterterrorist units are already in the area.

these pirates hold the ships for ransom and then use the millions they recieve to fund their radical islamic friends. true story.

[ekguy]

No I understand that. But couldn't they just patrol the waters with much better equipped military vessels and just blow them out of the water at any sign of them attacking civilian and business ships???

[adam c]

do you realize how much that would cost to escort every ship from the middle east to NA or Europe or wherever the oil is going?

[Grogador]

It's a big sea, apparently they were 450 miles off the coast of Kenya. Their speedboats are pretty quick, compared to most commercial or even military ships I'd think... Not to say it couldn't be done, but it's no small task.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=somalia&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=39.679848,79.101563&ie=UTF8&ll=-2.811371,57.832031&spn=58.477452,79.101563&z=4

[TYMSMNY]

Originally posted by adam c
do you realize how much that would cost to escort every ship from the middle east to NA or Europe or wherever the oil is going?

Well.. not EVERY ship.. just the big ones. The costs can come out of their big $$ profits.

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by Crymson


The shipping companies would have to hire mercs, not sailors with guns, to protect the ships, and they probably would be if the economics supported it. It's probably cheaper to take your chances and pay the ransom if something goes wrong then to try and protect all your shipments.

Blackwater has started offering services in this area, but you're right, the economics don't support it, chances of getting pirated are not that high since there are so many ships coming through this route.


Originally posted by ekguy
Is there a reason the world hasn't like all joined together and taken care of this...Seems like something 0.5% of the US Navy could take car of by themselves and if you got a bunch of countries involved wouldn't this be taken care of quite easily???

They have, I just went to a lecture on this last week, Canada was actually a big part of that force this summer, there are 7 nations involved.

You would think it would be easier to thwart these guys as well, they pirates are riding around on 100 dollar shitty boats with 40hp engines, with good arms you could easily take them out of the water.

That said, there isn't much they can do with them after they're captured, I heard that they're usually just held for a couple of days and then dropped of on a beach somewhere. I'm surprised to hear that some of them are being tried in France.

[riceeater]

they should put those computer controller 50 caliber machine guns (with the optional grenade launchers for added pimpage :bigpimp: ) at a couple places around these tankers and problem is solved... just switch them on at night or if you're attacked during the day and otherwise dont worry about it.... seems way cheaper than paying out 300 million each year...

but you know what, $300 million is nothing when oil companies make combined profits of hundreds of billions :nut:

[alloroc]

If you read it also states that this hijacking too place -OUTSIDE- of the currently patrolled area.

The only vessels with the speed and technology that could even come remotely close to patrolling an area larger than what they are patrolling now and keep track of all the traffic would be several modern attack subs. Only tens of billions of dollars in assets to catch guys in $4000 speed boats.

Better off to just pay the ransom because if you don't it is only a matter of time before your boats are sunk with antishipping missiles instead of just hijacked.

[Weapon_R]

I don't know how easy it is to shoot down these guys. An RPG on the hull of any ship is probably incentive enough to let them board.

http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2008/m08/y180113656840462.jpg

[TKRIS]

^Yeah, there was a piece on that on CBC radio a month or two ago.
The patrol ships can't really do anything though. They can confiscate guns and drugs or whatever, but they can't really do anything beyond that.
Because the "pirates" know that, they'll simply toss everything overboard before they're boarded, the patrol forces will board the ships, find nothing, and they'll have to just let them go, despite knowing full well they were running guns, stolen goods, drugs, or whatever.

Lot's of political bullshit that could be dealt with quietly with a little vigilantism. Call them training exercises so the bleeding hearts can sleep at night...

[FivE.SeveN]

YARRRRRR :hijack:

[adam c]

well go a few hundred km out and it's international waters...

and everyone knows what that means

[B20EF]

Originally posted by TKRIS
The patrol ships can't really do anything though. They can confiscate guns and drugs or whatever, but they can't really do anything beyond that.
Because the "pirates" know that, they'll simply toss everything overboard before they're boarded, the patrol forces will board the ships, find nothing, and they'll have to just let them go, despite knowing full well they were running guns, stolen goods, drugs, or whatever

I thought there were no laws in international waters or is that a myth?

[semograd]

Originally posted by Eleanor
^ Did you even read Grogador's post? :nut:

LOL oops, but my first post still stands, that's why all those huge Yachts are being hijacked so easily.

[adam c]

Originally posted by B20EF


I thought there were no laws in international waters or is that a myth?

there aren't but you have to be a certain distance away from the coast to be considered in international waters

[Supa Dexta]

There was another hijacking like 2 weeks ago on a tanker wasnt there?

[vipstyle2]

Yuppers it was loaded with Russian tanks and other millitary weapons. This was.... I believe a month ago.

[TKRIS]

Originally posted by B20EF


I thought there were no laws in international waters or is that a myth?

I'm no expert on the subject, but I believe that even in international waters, patrol ships belonging to certain nations, acting on orders and representing the interests of those nations, are still bound by a certain code of conduct.
I'm pretty sure the Canadian Military isn't allowed to just shoot the shit out of whomever they please without reprocussion just because they're in international water.

[Supa Dexta]

If Canada wants to sink a Somali shit box boat, with pirates on it, who's going to give them grief?

[Primer_Drift]

So when do we send in the ninja's to eliminate this pirate threat?

[B20EF]

Originally posted by TKRIS
I'm pretty sure the Canadian Military isn't allowed to just shoot the shit out of whomever they please without repercussion just because they're in international water.

:rofl: Thats a shame, the Somali pirates would make nice training opportunities

[Pollywog]

Originally posted by adam c


there aren't but you have to be a certain distance away from the coast to be considered in international waters

Does that mean you could kill someone out there?

[Redlyne_mr2]

So a refinery in Edmonton shuts down for a day gas goes up 15cents/liter. An entire ship gets hijacked and the price of oil remains.

[adam c]

Originally posted by Pollywog


Does that mean you could kill someone out there?

who would ever know?

[cam_wmh]

Why not toss a few Tomahawks at their Harbours? If the Somali government can't take care of their own, then we'll have to hit the problem at the root.

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
If Canada wants to sink a Somali shit box boat, with pirates on it, who's going to give them grief?
You'd be surprised, unfortunately :banghead:

[1997GSR]

thieving, armed, blood thirsty pirates have rights, you know.

[/////AMG]

In negotiation now and they've anchored somewhere off somalia

[Pollywog]

Originally posted by adam c


who would ever know?

To be more specific, if I took my friend Bob out to sea for a 3 hour tour, slaughtered him, dumped him overboard, and went back without bob, what could happen?

When people ask me "What about Bob?" could I say what I did? lol, or would I be pursued by Canadian Law Enforcement because it was a citizen of theirs?

[1997GSR]

Originally posted by Pollywog


To be more specific, if I took my friend Bob out to sea for a 3 hour tour, slaughtered him, dumped him overboard, and went back without bob, what could happen?

When people ask me "What about Bob?" could I say what I did? lol, or would I be pursued by Canadian Law Enforcement because it was a citizen of theirs?

did you tie something heavy to bobs leg or just roll him overboard?

[kaput]

.

[adam c]

Originally posted by Pollywog


To be more specific, if I took my friend Bob out to sea for a 3 hour tour, slaughtered him, dumped him overboard, and went back without bob, what could happen?

When people ask me "What about Bob?" could I say what I did? lol, or would I be pursued by Canadian Law Enforcement because it was a citizen of theirs?

if you were going to do that, you wouldn't tell people that you're going out with bob

[Weapon_R]

You are subject to the laws and regulations of the state that you arrive/stay in.

[Mckenzie]

Another one. Not as big as the $100 million haul but still...its getting out of control.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/18/saudi-tanker.html


Depp and co. need to make a new movie: Pirates off the coast of Somalia.

[Xtrema]

I just wish we are not such pussy and humane.

Just carpet bomb the shit out of coastal Somalia and go home.

[Stephen81]

There goes India...landing on the Moon and taking care of some pirates:thumbsup:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081119/ap_on_bi_ge/piracy

[Toms-SC]

Sounds like they need some good bounty hunters to take care of the problem.

[Thomas Gabriel]

Originally posted by kaput
I don't understand why they don't just air drop some storm troopers on to the ship and take it back? I doubt these guys are on a suicide mission

Honestly that sounds pretty hard. This isn't hollywood lol. Doesn't matter how elite the guys are - they are going to get noticed. They'd get in a huge firefight, and there would be a lot of casualties. And then of course if they started doing that, the pirates would start rigging explosives.

I just wish these tankers could invest in a nice medium caliber naval gun. It would be so hilarious to see the pirates roll up in their speedboat, shoot their AKs, and then be disintegrated a half second later.

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by kaput
I don't understand why they don't just air drop some storm troopers on to the ship and take it back? I doubt these guys are on a suicide mission

lol these POSs hijacked a Malaysian vessel among others in september and the ransom was something retarded by our standards like 1-2 million US, but i guess to these guys thats enough to get 10000 more RPG rounds which is what matters most to them..

but Malaysia did send their PASKAL team there with a number of navy ships, somewhat like SAS or SEALs but they didn't counter strike style the ship for fear of hostage lives.

but these guys are retards just trying to earn some money to fuel their BS proxy wars.

Quoted as saying by The Star newspaper:
The pirate "fired a warning shot which unfortunately ricocheted off the ceiling and penetrated his head," crew member Nuzaihan Abd Rani.

:rofl:

but pirates are fken real as it gets to 'water terrorists', in Malaysia my aunts diving boats were constantly jacked by filipino pirates of their engines, they will literally put 8 Yamaha engines to their dingy using fabbed brackets and mount .50 cals left over from the americans to the front of this sheet metal fken boat. rape/pilliage boat refugees (expecially after the Vietnam War, alot of viet 'boat people' got caught by them trying to make it to Malaysia/ Philippines etc)

another one with a more realistic ransom of 25 mil was when they hijacked a ukrainian ship carrying some soviet era tanks, i think they rather have the $ cause they wouldnt know dick all about driving a tank lol

[5hift]

Originally posted by stephen_haxton
There goes India...landing on the Moon and taking care of some pirates:thumbsup:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081119/ap_on_bi_ge/piracy

:werd:

Supposidly an Indian Navy Vessle left the pirate mother ship in flames

[1997GSR]

Pirates are living it up:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/19/somalia.pirates.boomtown.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview